Personally I don’t want to have some animal jumping around on my furniture, eating my (potentially harmful) plants, kicking down stuff, sleeping on my face at night.
And it goes both ways. Lots of dogs will run up and jump on you, lick you, ram their nose into your crotch, etc. Most cats won’t do anything they might be considered intrusive unless you’ve put quite a bit of effort into convincing them it’s ok.
They kill birds. For every responsible cat owner there are a dozen who pretend it’s fine.
Imagine having a pet that preys on native animals. I would be incredibly ashamed.
They should be grandfathered in Australia, as in no new kittens. A lot of councils are moving towards zero tolerance for cats outside. Most owners can’t afford enclosures so they’re SOL.
Commence down votes toxoplasmosis carriers, idgaf.
It inhibits the fear response in rodents, so they are more likely to cuddle up with cats
The joke being that humans are infected too
In rodents, T. gondii alters behavior in ways that increase the rodents’ chances of being preyed upon by felids. Support for this “manipulation hypothesis” stems from studies showing that T. gondii-infected rats have a decreased aversion to cat urine while infection in mice lowers general anxiety, increases explorative behaviors and increases a loss of aversion to predators in general. Because cats are one of the only hosts within which T. gondii can sexually reproduce, such behavioral manipulations are thought to be evolutionary adaptations that increase the parasite’s reproductive success since rodents that do not avoid cat habitations will more likely become cat prey
On the whole, there was little evidence that T. gondii was related to increased risk of psychiatric disorder, poor impulse control, personality aberrations, or neurocognitive impairment.
Because I can actually observe my adopted cat loving me more with every passing month. We’re learning each other, he communicates with me and gets closer and closer. For the first year he didn’t even think about cuddling but now he’s on my laps everyday. It’s really nice to feel him liking me more and more so I like him back as well. It’s a very positive circle of affection.
I’ve had both over my life. Both have pros and cons.
As others have said, cats overall require less attention; both in interaction and maintenance. Our cats are really good about keeping house bugs to a minimum with their natural hunter instincts. Flies,moths and other critters don’t last long. Also litter boxes are something I wish dogs could figure out lol.
Dogs are more social, so they’ll need more from you. They need frequent outside time to run and exercise/bathroom. Most dogs don’t care about catching bugs and critters like cats. However, if treated right, will defend the house to the death from intruders.
In my current situation, cats are better. If I had a much bigger, we’ll fenced yard, I’d love to have a dog again.
You can easily train a dog to use litter boxes. There are actually indoor grass mats you can buy. It’s mostly a way to deal with very old dogs who have trouble keeping it in.
But please don’t do that with young and healthy dogs. They need outside time. If you don’t want to do that, just don’t get a dog.
He is asking why insanely much! I know a woman who has like 20 cats she doesn’t even have time to spend with them and taking care of all them. But just because she loves cats she can have that many
My family had cats when I was a baby. The cats put a lot of time into imprinting me to give them baby food, heat etc (babies are resource rich from a cat point of view).
Cats are independent and dogs are dependent. That’s why I like cats better. I also don’t want to deal with the death of a dog that I’d probably consider my best friend. No thanks.
Having had both kinds of animals of pets multiple times, it isn’t any easier unless you simply just don’t interact with the animal and thus don’t have a connection with it.
I am not a cat person, but I’ve lived with a couple of them and they can be really charming little companions. They can also be incredible assholes and imo their charisma doesn’t make up for it. Some people just weigh the pros and cons differently.
I think it’s more of a gamble with cats. Dogs are just gonna love you. Some cats are completely sweet and cuddly, and others attack your ankles everytime you try to get water.
Depends on the dog too. Maybe you’ve only experience good dogs but there are MANY dogs out there with dangerous behavioral issues. “Dogs are just gonna love you” just isn’t true. It depends on the breed, the dog, and their history.
As a cat person who has had several cats and never lived with a dog long term, I am surprised to learn this (though it seems so obvious). My response was based off of what so many dog people have told me! If it’s a gamble either way, why would you pick the animal who has better ability to actually kill you?
Part of this is people continue to believe cats can’t be trained. It’s harder, but possible. It also means you have to work harder to train out bad behaviour (and they will only mostly stop while you’re around). So getting your cat to not bite you can be done, as well as training them to not go on the counter when you can see it.
Cats are also domesticated differently than most animals, and will absolutely, literally shit on things they know you care about if you piss them off.
It makes sense that bad cat owners are responsible, in large part, for bad cat behavior. That said, if it’s so difficult to raise a cat properly, then maybe cats just aren’t good pets for most people.
As I said, cats are domesticated differently. Current speculation is they self-domesticated during the beginning of agriculture. What this means for us is that, unlike dogs, it’s more of an agreement between us and them, and they will make it known if they don’t agree with the situation. This is the nugget of truth behind “Dogs have owners, cats have staff.” So, as with dogs, if your lifestyle isn’t acceptable to them, you shouldn’t own them. The difference is what is acceptable.